The moment new mum Giaan Rooney knew she needed help: 'I almost killed us both'

When former Olympic swimmer Giaan Rooney gave birth to her second child, she was certain it would be easier than the first time around.

Zander, four, had been one of those babies who struggled to sleep.

The idea of 'sleeping through' eluded both baby and mother during the exhausting weeks and months following his birth and ever the problem solver, Rooney, 35, turned to a sleep school for help.

"The catalyst was I was driving with him in the baby seat in the back and I drove through a set of traffic lights; if you paid me a million dollars I couldn't have told you what colour they were," she tells 9Honey. "The only reason I think they were green was because nobody hit us."

"She's got a lot of mucus on her chest so I keep sneaking in to make sure she's breathing," Rooney says. "It's just awful."

While Rooney understands that sleeping issues with her kids are only ever temporary, especially when it comes to things like teething, but she says she's been assured by parents of teens that the worry never ends.

"I spoke to a lady yesterday and she told me she still texts her 19-year-old twins," Rooney recalls. "She woke up one morning at 1am in a panic and rang them both demanding to know why."

Rooney says the woman was only able to get back to sleep when each of her children had managed to convince her they were perfectly okay.

The story has left Rooney feeling rattled, after what she's already been through with two children who have struggled with sleep much of their young lives.

Rooney herself has always been an "excellent sleeper", serving her well during her almost decade-long competitive swimming career during which she won gold for Australia at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, breaking a world record in the process.

For Rooney, that help was sleep school for Zander after struggling to cope with endless sleepless nights left her feeling like she was "properly failing" for the first time in her life.

"We think we are meant to be naturally great mothers and parents and it will come so naturally to us," she says. "It's not like that. We need to swallow our pride and find a support system. We need to be able to say, 'I'm not coping' and then accept help.

"For me I definitely had to find my village."

She says it wasn't until she and Zander were at sleep school that she was able to try and figure out why she was struggling so much. She considered she may be post-natal, or depressed, but eventually concluded she was just "overwhelmingly exhausted".

"And I don't pretend to have all the answers," she says. "Everyone is different. It's a fine line for many new mums and parents between exhaustion and something more sinister.

"For me I've always been able to solve problems in life through hard work and finding a solution," she says.

With Lexi, she sought help early, working with two sleep consultants, and she encourages other parents to also seek help earlier for issues such as this.

"I like the parents are being more open about issues they are having raising children," she says. "It helps us process things. We used to judge each other and keep things to ourselves. But these days parents are under different pressures and different stresses than years ago.

"We now know how important sleep is to our physical and emotional health and we know we can talk about sleeping issues without people assuming we are making it up," she says. "This makes it easier to seek help."

Rooney says sleeping issues aren't just suffered by parents of young children.

"I have friends who have suffered from insomnia and it destroys their lives," she says. "We need to find a way for sleep to become an easy part of our lives."

Rooney has been married to husband Sam Levett since 2011 when they met at a friend's BBQ. Each does all that they can to support the other's career, which means spending time apart when travelling for work.

"We are a team," she says. "When it comes to being parents neither of us does more than the other. So when we travel for work, it's a great opportunity for us to catch up on sleep."

Rooney now works as a sporting reporter for Seven Network and says she is thoroughly enjoying life as a working mum.

"I've been retired for 12-and-a-half years and I haven't swum a lap since the day I retired," she says. "It feels like I was a different person then. But I've also been fortunate because I didn't have any regrets, which made it easier to transition to life outside of the pool.

"I retired on my terms, when I was at the top of my game," she says. "It was the perfect time to walk away from the sport. A lot of athletes don't get that choice and resentment can build. I always knew it had to end. I always knew I wouldn't be 45 and on the Australian swimming team."

Son Zander is in swimming lessons with the same teacher who taught his mum when she was a child. Rooney says the teacher has assured her that her son isn't the talent swimmer his mum is.

"She said she saw natural talent in me quite early but that Zander doesn't have it," she says. "I'm not devastated, I'm quite pleased. I'll always support what he wants to do 100 percent, but swimming is a hard sport. There's a lot of pressure and expectations.

"I just want him to learn enough to keep him safe in the water."

If you or someone you know is in need of support contact PANDA on 1300 726 306.